Climbing the corporate ladder
by Megami no Hikari
Summary: The first year of candidacy of candidates 37 and 39, told by yours truly.


Ohayou, minna-san Megami no Hikari here. This is a story about how the former pilots went through candidacy and became pilots. I've always wanted to write about Garu and Ernest's candidate days so I did. The first part of the story will be all Garu's and Ernest's POV's until Rio and Yu come along. In the beginning Garu and Ernest are 14, and when Rio and Yu are introduced they will be the same age(14).

So here is the first part of the prologue, done in the adorable Ernest's POV

Warnings: Angsty Ernest.

Enjoy!

I sighed patiently to myself. Couldn't this thing move any faster?

I had boarded the shuttle at least 4 hours ago and still not even a sign of it.

Beside I was beginning to grow wary of the glares and terrified looks the other four boys were giving me, not to mention all of the emotions rebounding. It had been a most uncomfortable four hours.

In the beginning it was all right, at least no one knew…

Then, the escort came in and called our names, to check that we were all here. I supposed he meant no harm but.

_ Flashback _

" _Fujitaka Hisomi" _

"_Here" a tall boy replied. _

"_Ernest Cuore" the escort called, looking over the files once again. _

"… _Here…" the blonde boy said uncertainly. _

"_So, you're an empath? Good it's been a while since we had one of those." He said approvingly. _

_I sighed and turned around, as I expected the four boys jumped back at least a foot away from me, and as though I didn't even exist the whispering and pointing began. _

_ End flashback _

So, here I was on the shuttle's observation deck quietly observing the serene silence of space. I adored space, there; there were no emotions to pester me.

I hope we'll be there soon, I knew the news about my… special abilities would be spread quite soon, but at least in G.O.A. I'd have plenty of space to hide myself.

I raked my fingers through my blonde hair, who was I kidding it'd be aunt Ana-san's all over again.

After two more hours of agonizing flight, we finally arrived at G.O.A.

I made sure to stand in the corner, hoping no one would see me. It's better to be ignored than made fun of anyway.

"Ernest Cuore?" I looked up at the one who addressed me , he was tall and buff looking. He expelled an aura of authority and superiority, so I instantly knew he was an instructor at the school.

"Hai sensei." I responded quietly

He stared at me for a minute than continued. " My name is Azuma Hijikata, also known as the main instructor and captain of G.O.A. I wish to escort you to your new quarters and get you ready for the ceremony, come." He turned around briskly motioning for me to follow.

I mentally groaned. It was aunt Ana's all over again, the telepath gets escorted everywhere…

We walked through various hallways and reached a rather isolated one.

"Here we are, you aunt and uncle suggested you get your own private quarters. They say you aren't too comfortable around people, and less than fond of being touched. Due to your special ability we thought it was only natural to do so." He explained emotionlessly.

I frowned; it was kind of hard to be the world's most sociable person if people began screaming their heads off if I got too close.

Besides Aunt Ana didn't need to make me more miserable than I already was. I knew she was sincerely trying her best to make me feel comfortable, but it wasn't working. It never had. Not even when… Never mind I don't want to think about that.

I nodded and he motioned for me to enter.

I did so; the room was just what I expected. Completely empty, it had a bathroom, drawers and a closet, all which were filled with all of G.O.A.'s uniforms for all of the different occasions. It also had a one-person bed in the middle, nothing else.

My eyes wondered past the bed and I almost gasped in shock. Behind it all were plenty of large windows all giving me a direct view into space. I nearly ran over to it and began staring, awed. All the stars and vast emptiness of space, all there for me to see only for me...

I had always felt drawn to outer space, but this was incredible. The sight was amazing.

Sensei Azuma gave a light cough to regain my attention. I turned to face him.

"Please come with me we are to go to the hygiene department and check everything is in order." He said in the expressionless tone once more.

I felt like laughing at him, he thought that with that voice he could hide from me.

Fools, they should know better than to try and hide from an empath.

Still, all the pity radiating from him was beginning to make me sick.

I sighed once more as I came out of the hygiene department with Azuma sensei.

The decontamination had been fairly simple, back in my aunt's colony I was rarely in contact with others, so I rarely got sick.

The only problem was the man who was head of the department, as soon as he found out he refused to touch me he nervously backed away and began expelling an aura of great distress. I frowned, negative emotions usually had a large toll on me, and at the current moment I was experiencing a dizzy spell.

It's not like I had expected anyone to accept me anyway. Besides, I got to keep my long hair. I was rather fond of it, it allowed my to hide my face and eyes from other people. It shielded my so no one got the satisfaction of seeing my… No I promised myself I wouldn't think about it again.

So when it was time to give me my candidate number, Azuma sensei had to do it himself, but I did notice his reluctance to touch me as well, I frowned heavily, this was all too familiar for me.

The process was rather quick and painless so now I had a large 39 embedded into my wrist.

I stared down at my wrist, frowning. I had never wanted to be here in the first place now I had this mark on my wrist, mocking me. I glared at it with distaste, hoping that if I stared at it long enough it would go away, just like everyone else does. No such luck.

Sensei told me to hurry up because the ceremony was about to begin. He marked an entrance code and we entered another set of hallways.

I observed the decoration as we strolled along, just like the bedroom's it was empty. Just like I liked it. No dark depressing colors to make me sad, and no bright cheery colors to remind me of the happiness I lacked. I had only been happy once in my life and that had been before… No, I promised I wouldn't think about it again. It makes no sense to brood over the past when I'll have to brood about the present anyways.

"Well he we are, the main auditorium. Now go in and take your place among the lower 30's. Look for numbers 38 and 40, and stand between them." The sensei suddenly ordered interrupting my musings.

I looked at him oddly before nodding, it's something that often happens to me I wonder around in a daze thinking and when something disrupts me it takes me a bit to recall everything. _Otouto_ always told me that I think too much… a small smile appeared on my face, I couldn't help it, it happens every time I remember _otouto _he is one of the good things in my life

"Well what are you waiting for." The Azuma sensei demanded. I gave him a puzzled look. He gave a frustrated sigh and motioned towards the door.

Oh, I had to get to the auditorium. Right. I wonder how many people are going to be in there. I hope there aren't too many.

I slowly opened the door, hoping against hope.

Kuso. There are at least a thousand people in here, and there are still more coming in. I felt a sudden coldness rising in my chest; at the same time I felt a wave of anxiety rushing through me. I was panicking.

I couldn't handle this I had to get out, now.

I rushed to get outside, but a man blocked my way. "Sorry kid, new candidates aren't allowed to miss the initiation ceremony." He scolded me.

See, I had never been allowed to train for anything. In my aunts colony I was treated like a fragile doll by the few who cared about me. Obviously my physical strength was almost non-existent; still that wasn't what bothered me. I had never been allowed telepathic or empathic training other than the one I gave myself; gradually over the years I had increased my ability to block out other people's emotions and thoughts. Nonetheless I was still powerless against physical touch, direct communication and overall _large crowds. _

If your not an empath, you'll never know what it feels like to have thousands of rampaging emotions rushing through you, what it feels like to have emotions that aren't yours hurt you so much.

Three candidates passed by me, and as they did, I felt the nervousness, anger and annoyance coupled with the man's scorn. A wave of nausea passed me.

It was happening again, it happened every time I was in large crowds. I could block out the emotions of a few people surrounding me. But I was powerless against thousands of them. My mental blocks were slowly melting away.

I began to step away from the man, hoping to get away from his scorn. I accidentally bumped into someone. I nearly keeled over at the contact. Maybe it wasn't direct skin contact, but when there were thousands of emotions pounding at my head direct contact with someone was extremely painful.

"Dude, are you okay? You don't looks so good." I stared at him, he was a young man of about 16, he had dark brown hair and hazel eyes. His voice was laced with confusion and nervousness. The impact of the emotions nearly knocked me over. I began to breathe heavily.

"Um dude, you don't look so good, here let me take you where you're supposed to be standing" he grasped me by the shoulders and I nearly groaned at the pain.

I don't know how long it took for him to drag me over to where I was supposed to be, but it was enough for me to take a good look at his G.O.A. insignia. It had two arcs over it, so he was in second troop…

" Here we are little dude, what was your name again?" he asked suddenly.

I wanted to retaliate that I had never told him my name but I wasn't strong enough to argue "Ernest…" I said weakly "Ernest Cuore, 39."

He smiled " Okay Ernest, if you still feel bad after the ceremony come tome and I'll take you to doctor Rill." For a second, his concern and desire to help me eased the other negative feelings pounding in my head and I was able to nod. It's simple logic; if there are enough positive emotions, they neutralize the negative ones. So for that fleeting instinct I felt absolutely nothing.

But as soon as he ran off, they came back at full force. I took a large breath hoping it'd all be over soon.

In about a minute the G.O.A anthem played, the loud blaring music pounding into my skull along with all of the emotions. It was nearly unbearable.

" Today is a brand new day here at G.O.A we are more than pleased to welcome all new candidates. Let me congratulate you for being accepted and know that you were chosen…"

Even though I knew I'd be in trouble for it later, I removed my hands from their required military salute and put them around my aching stomach, praying to the goddesses to make it stop soon.

" For your special abilities and competitiveness, also know…"

The candidate next to me, number 38 gave me a nudge motioning for me to arrange my arms in the required position, what he didn't know is that with the touch, all of his emotions came searing at me with double the force. I couldn't take it anymore and I fell to my knees.

There was a loud commotion all around me, emotions going back and forth it was so much that I had to take my hands from my aching stomach to my throbbing head. I was sweating all over.

I felt some people trying to help me up, I wanted to shout at them and tell them they were making it worse by touching me.

A bead of sweat, or what I thought was a bead of sweat rolled off my nose. When I touched my face I noticed it was actually tears.

I was crying? No, I was sobbing…

A final hand touched my face, to wipe all my tears away and with it all of the owner's emotions. No matter how positive they were, it wasn't enough to block everything else away.

The last thing I saw were concerned green eyes.

Then all was black.

Well here's a cliffy for you, hope you liked it!

Next chapter is done in Garu's POV!

Thank you for reading.


End file.
